As a couple uniting family and friends from across the globe, we chose to host our wedding in Hawaii. We planned our destination wedding from abroad (UK and New Zealand). Planning a wedding from abroad, we made plans and vendor decisions based ...on reviews. We were lucky to visit Oahu and see the Honolulu based Island King musicians at a showcase in November of 2017. The musicians are wonderful and their music simply makes you get up and dance!
Following our attendance at the showcase, we requested specific lead singers. From the time of contract, we worked with Brian as our lead / coordinator for the band. Responsiveness to emails varied, generally within a week, at times requiring follow up emails. Throughout the planning process we had access to an online platform hosted by the band to share details including timeline and song requests, which made it easy for us to all keep updated.
Each aspect of the wedding music contract, ceremony, cocktail hour, reception all had specific set play timeframes that are inflexible. We found that despite trying to alter these with Brian, we worked our reception timeline around the band sets. The band has many specific requirements to be aware of that you must work with including hard floor surface, shade / tent if outdoors, electrical needs (number of outlets / wattage availability). We were able to rent tents, stages and extension cables required. There was strained communication specifically regarding the electricity requirements where the band was asking us to ensure specific wattage requirements. As we do not reside in Hawaii or manage the venue, we had to organize communication between the venue, band and our wedding coordinator, despite the fact they had all worked together previously. In the end it was our venue who came through for us, providing all of the necessary equipment. We felt that equipment needs would have been a responsibility of the band to communicate with the venue to ensure their needs are met, and if additional items are required to build these rentals into the band quote versus requesting the couple to be in the middle of the details.
Brian is not based in Honolulu, therefore was not present on our wedding day. This provided some concerns for us given that we had been communicating with him for months to plan our wedding day. Approximately one month prior to our wedding, Brian introduced his colleague Melissa, the lead singer we requested, into the email communication as she was to be the lead on our wedding day.
On our wedding day, we contracted to have a single guitarist for ceremony, trio for cocktail hour, and a six piece band for the reception. We did not utilize the emcee component offered by the band, a friend acted as emcee for us. The musicians were wonderful and executed our requested songs as desired for ceremony as well as special dances. They played music as per our request of genres and kept the dance floor packed, precisely what we desired. Unfortunately neither of the lead singers we requested performed at our wedding including Melissa, who we had been informed would be present. This was okay for us, but if you have a strong desire to have the artists you request this may lead to disappointment.
The band while often difficult to communicate with, all of the musicians and artists performed beautifully at our wedding.